Former President Trump amplified two unfounded conspiracy theories about migrant communities in small cities during Tuesday’s presidential debate against Vice President Harris.
After initially segueing to conspiracy theories about Aurora, Colo., and Springfield, Ohio, on a question about the economy, Trump doubled down when defending the size of his political rallies after they were mocked by Harris.
“People don’t leave my rallies we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics, because people want to take their country back,” said Trump.
“What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country — and look at what’s happening to the towns [in the] United States, a lot of towns don’t want to talk. Not going to be Aurora [or] Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs.”
Trump was referring to a false allegation about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, which gained national attention after his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), repeated the false claims in a post on the social platform X.
Springfield police and other city authorities denied any abductions had been reported, and City Manager Bryan Heck told The Hill the false controversy “takes away” from the city’s real struggles onboarding immigrants to social services.
“We checked with the city manager,” ABC News moderator David Muir said at the Philadelphia debate, saying officials found no evidence supporting the allegations of immigrants eating pets.
Harris appeared to laugh as Trump screamed, “They’re eating the dogs!”
“I saw people on television talking about it,” Trump insisted after Muir pushed back, adding “we’ll find out.”
Trump had earlier alluded to Springfield and a separate false storyline about Aurora in his first response to a question about the economy.
He blamed the Biden administration’s immigration policies, referencing the two cities at the center of false allegations against immigrants.
“You see what’s happening with towns throughout the United States. You look at Springfield, Ohio, you look at Aurora in Colorado,” said Trump.
“They’re taking over the towns, they’re taking over buildings, they’re going in violently. These are the people that she and Biden let into our country and they’re destroying our country. They’re dangerous, they’re at the highest level of criminality and we have to get them out, we have to get them out fast.”
Aurora became a flashpoint in the immigration debate after a conspiracy theory emerged that Venezuelan gang members were “taking over” apartment buildings in the city, after a video emerged of men carrying automatic weapons in an apartment complex.
Aurora Police said some Tren de Aragua gang members were arrested near a different apartment building from where the video was shot, and denied any takeovers had taken place.
